Oxford, EIT Address Urgent Problem with AI Vaccine Research

Famous Radcliffe Camera in the Oxford University - aerial view | Image Credit: © 4kclips - stock.adobe.com

Led by the Oxford Vaccine Group, the University of Oxford (Oxford) said it is lending its expertise in human challenge studies, immune science, and vaccine development to a strategic partnership with the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), whose cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) innovation technology will be used for an ambitious new program of vaccine research (1).

What will the program accomplish?

In a press release, Oxford said the Correlates of Immunity—Artificial Intelligence (CoI-AI) program, which has received research funding of £118 million (US$158 million), will endeavor to better understand how the body fights infection, and how vaccines protect humans (1). Specifically, it will study how the immune system responds to certain germs causing serious infections and contributing to antibiotic resistance—Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, and E. coli, among others.

Oxford says germs such as these have tended to resist traditional vaccine approaches, but in the design of this program, human challenge models who are exposed to bacteria safely and under controlled conditions will be used to apply modern immunology and AI tools to identify immune responses that are adequate predictors of protection (1).

What is the strategic context for pharma?

Oxford’s program is set in the broader backdrop of declining or uncertain vaccine R&D investment in some regions—namely, the United States—underscoring a possible shift in global leadership toward academic–technology collaborations that span discovery to application (2). The integration of AI into immunological studies exemplifies a strategic direction where pharmaceutical companies could gain from partnering with such initiatives—or risk being disrupted if they do not adapt.

However, at this time, no data were provided demonstrating how immunological insights from human challenge studies might be converted into scalable vaccine platforms or market-ready products (2). This absence reflects a broader uncertainty: While such studies may yield valuable information about protective immune responses, there is no assurance that these findings will translate directly into manufacturing processes or commercially viable interventions—so while the program’s ambition is clear, its downstream application to the pharmaceutical industry remains speculative until supported by peer-reviewed results and evidence of successful product development.

How are stakeholders responding?

“Researchers in the CoI-AI program will use artificial intelligence models developed at EIT to identify and better understand the immune responses that predict protection,” Larry Ellison, EIT chairman, said in the press release (1). “This vaccine development program combines Oxford’s leadership in immunology and human challenge models with cutting-edge AI, laying the groundwork for a new era of vaccine discovery—one that is faster, smarter, and better able to respond to infectious disease outbreaks throughout the world.”

“This program will give us completely new tools to study how vaccines work at both a cellular and system-wide level, by studying infections in real time, in people, and using smart immunology tools and data to find the answers,” Daniela Ferreira, professor and deputy director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said (1). “This will open up whole new avenues to vaccine design as we improve our understanding of infection and immunity.”

Sir Andrew Pollard, professor and director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said the program addresses one of the most urgent problems in infectious disease: a lack of deep understanding of immunity in order to develop innovative vaccines against deadly diseases that are so far evasive to prevention.

“By combining advanced immunology with artificial intelligence, and using human challenge models to study diseases, CoI-AI will provide the tools we need to tackle serious infections and reduce the growing threat of antibiotic resistance,” Pollard said (1). “This is a new frontier in vaccine science.”

References

1. University of Oxford. Oxford Launches Major New AI Vaccine Research Programme with the Ellison Institute of Technology. Press Release. Sept. 1, 2025.
2. Kuchler, H. Oracle Billionaire’s Institute Gives Oxford Major Grant for AI Vaccine Research. FT.com, Sept. 1, 2025.